Utilizing 4D Technology in Supply Chain Management

Abstract: During the last decade the role of technology in supporting the project execution and management has increased. However, the real impacts to supply chain have not been considered. This paper introduces a study utilising 4D technology for supply chain management. We explore how the interactive 4D application can be used for testing alternative supply chain scenarios. We describe experienced challenges when developing 4DLive Linker environment, which enables simulations of multiple scenarios in large construction projects. We demonstrate the research approach in a residential housing case that has two supply chain alterations. Our experiences show that decision making benefits from interactive environment. The end result enhances existing 4D applications to direction where alternative plans can be easily incorporated into applications, studied further interactively and presented in a communicative manner for decision making and construction site training.